page_title: Newton Abbot
section_title: Forde House
hierarchical_section_title: Newton Abbot / Landmarks / Forde House
caption_attribution_description: Bradley, the medieval manor house in Newton Abbot, Devon, UK.
context_page_description: Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge District of Devon, England, with a population of 25,556. It grew rapidly in the Victorian era as the home of the South Devon Railway locomotive works. This later became a major steam engine shed, retained to service British Railways diesel locomotives until 1981. It now houses the Brunel industrial estate. The town has a race course nearby, the most westerly in England, and a country park, Decoy. It is twinned with Besigheim in Germany and Ay in France.
context_section_description: Forde House (now known as Old Forde House) lies in the south-east corner of the town in the parish of Wolborough. The present house was built in 1610 by Richard Reynell (who later became Sir Richard Reynell) and his wife Lucy. It was built with an E-shaped floor plan thought to be in honour of Queen Elizabeth I, who had recently died. The grounds were originally extensive, including all of what is called Decoy (as wildfowl were decoyed there to extend the house's larder),a deer park known locally as Buckland, which is now home to a housing estate, and the iBounce trampoline park.
  In 1625 King Charles I stayed at the house overnight on his way to inspect the fleet at Plymouth. He returned a few days later for a further two nights. Forde House gave shelter to Oliver Cromwell and Colonel Fairfax while on their way to besiege Royalist Dartmouth in 1646. In 1648 the estate passed to the Courtenay family through the marriage of Margaret (only daughter of Jane Reynell and Sir William Waller) to Sir William Courtenay, lord of nearby Powderham Castle. William of Orange stayed at the house in 1688 on the way to his coronation in London, having landed in Brixham. The house remained the main residence of a succession of Courtenays until 1762, when it was let to a string of occupiers.
  The Courtenay family sold the house in 1936 to Stephen Simpson, who sold it two years later to Mrs M. Sellick. Teignbridge District Council bought the house in 1978 and remains the current owners. It has been refurbished for use as office and conference space, and for weddings and other social events.
caption: The east front of Bradley Manor
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